The Depression Fort
by aristocraticartist
Summary: Cisco has a breakdown, and Harry gets his ass kicked for it.


_Author's note; The biggest reason that Cisco is my favorite character, my favorite superhero, is that he is a superhero with anxiety. It's not explicitly stated, but I often see myself in his fidgeting and panicking on screen. I wanted to write a fic dedicated to fans who also have anxiety, and this was actually one of the first fanfiction ideas I ever thought through. So, here it is, in the flesh. I apologize for beating on Harry but he reminds me of someone who did something very bad to me a lot of the time._ _Enjoy the angst!_

 _Love, Jay._

Cisco's workshop was a mess. Barry had called you after your boyfriend had gotten into an argument with Harry in the lab. Things had been thrown, insults had been slung, and Cisco had stormed out of the cortex. Barry was worried, but he had already tried to comfort Cisco, and the speedster had been shot at by some random energy pulse prototype. So, he called in the big guns.

You stepped over a pile of stuff, shutting the shop door behind you. The bag of food in your hand rustled slightly as you set it down on a clear space of counter. Your boyfriend was nowhere in sight, but the blanket thrown haphazardly over one of the desks told you exactly where he was. You made your way over with the slushie you had picked up, carefully stepping over objects strewn along the floor.

A gentle knock on top of the desk was met with no answer, so you knelt on the floor next to the fort.

"Hey. I brought a slushie. You want it?" You kept your voice soft. The blanket pulled back slightly, and you put the cherry concoction through the space. The blanket shut on your hand, and you felt warm fingers close on yours and take the cup.

Once you were sure that Cisco wasn't going to drop the slushie, you withdrew your hand.

You heard a quiet slurping noise from the fort and smiled. Rising to your feet, you straightened the blanket, making the fort a little more secure for him.

"I'm going to put all this stuff, okay? I'm here if you need me." You pat the desk and walked away, righting the shelves and organisers in order to start getting things back in working shape. You liked Cisco's lab. You loved it when he talked about his work, and he often asked for your help testing out new stuff he was building.

It took a while to get the shop back in order again, since it looked like Cisco had a major meltdown. Finally, you got the last energy gun back on its proper display, and you dusted yourself off. You noticed that a corner of the blanket was pulled back, and that probably meant Cisco had been watching you.

"Alright, honey bun. Time to move the blanket fort, I gotta get this table back together, ok? Unless the fort is becoming a permanent installment in the Cisco space." You came and sat in front of it, seeing a pair of chocolate brown eyes peering out of the darkness.

"I brought you some enchiladas and some rice if you're hungry. I can set you up on the couch with some star trek if you want."

You smiled a little bit, and you saw him stir inside fort depression.

"Come on, honey." You sat on your knees with your arms outstretched, and Cisco emerged from the blanket. He crawled into your arms, wrapping his arms around your waist and pressing his face into your shoulder. His cheeks were wet, and his eyes were red and puffy. You stroked his hair and just held him for a little while.

"You wanna go to the couch?"

Cisco nodded into your collarbone. You helped him to his feet, dragging the blanket off the table and bundling him into it. Nudging your boyfriend towards the couch took some effort, since he was about 148 pounds of dead weight when he got like this. Finally, you got Cisco on the couch. He looked like hell, and you wanted just a little bit to punch Harry in the face.

"Do you want your enchiladas or just to watch t.v. or something?" You knelt in front of him and rested a hand on his leg. He sighed through his nose, not really feeling like talking right now even to the love of his life. You got up and pressed a kiss to his cheek before bringing him the food and the remote.

"I'll be right back, okay babe?" Cisco nodded slowly, pulling the blanket closer around him. You exited calmly, waiting to get angry until you had shut the door. Barry was outside, a worried look on his face. His eyes widened when he saw how absolutely pissed off you were.

"How bad is it?" He asked softly, chewing on a nail.

"He was in Fort Depression and nothing was left untouched. There's a couple holes in the walls. I got him on the couch and gave him food and the remote but now I need to strangle Harry." You pantomimed the action, clenching your teeth and letting out a heavy sigh.

"I don't think we need to go that far…"

"Barry, you know better than I do that it takes way more than we could ever handle to make Cisco actually have a breakdown." You poked him in the chest angrily.

"I'm sorry. I haven't seen him torn up this much since that thing happened with Snart and his brother. Just please don't actually kill Harry, ok?" You flinched almost imperceptibly at the mention of Cisco's brother, but didn't respond. Instead, you chose to storm past Barry and find Harry.

You found him in the cortex, scribbling math onto a whiteboard and muttering to himself. You leaned on the doorframe and cleared your throat. When that didn't get his attention, you walked up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm a bit busy right now, come back later." Harry was dismissive, not even bothering to turn around. Fed up, you grabbed his shirt and forced him to turn around.

"I will not 'come back later', you arrogant prick!" You hissed, grabbing fistfuls of Harry's shirt. It would have been funny if you weren't so mad, since Harry was a fair deal taller than you.

"Do you feel like explaining to me why Barry had to call me to come calm down my boyfriend, or am I going to have to beat an answer out of you?" You felt your chest light aflame inside with anger, and you were sure that steam would be coming out of your ears if you were in a cartoon.

"I did not do anything, (Y/n). Cisco must be overreacting."

"Cisco doesn't shut himself away in a blanket fort after trying to shoot his best friend for anything less than something I should probably kill you for, so spit it out ingrate!" You shouted, shoving him backwards into the whiteboard. He connected with a thud, making the board roll backwards as Harry fell on his ass.

"Harry told Cisco he was worthless to the team." Caitlin's timid voice came from behind the medbay door. She removed the chair from under the handle, presumably having blocked herself in to get away from the yelling and screaming you assumed had occurred. "They were fighting all morning but that's what sparked the real fight."

Your lips pressed into a thin line as you took a deep breath. Harry got up and dusted himself off.

"I was angry. I apologized."

"That doesn't mean you get to take it out on Cisco! He has done nothing but help you since you got here, and this is how you treat him?" You backed Harry up into the whiteboard again.

"An apology doesn't even begin to undo the damage you've done. If I hear so much as a whisper from anyone of you treating Cisco with anything but the utmost respect and confidence, I. Will. End. You." Your statement got quieter and quieter until you were whispering right into his face.

"...duly noted." Harry grumbled, frowning down at you. You released him and stepped back a few steps.

The tension was palpable for a few seconds as you stared at each other. His face became a stupid, selfish smirk as it became clear he didn't really care. So, of course, you introduced him to your left hook.

Stomach, meet fist. Face, meet other fist.

Harry doubled over, groaning in pain, clutching his head. You took the opportunity to shove his head towards the floor. It sent him careening face-down into the concrete. His face made contact with the hard surface with a disgusting click, his glasses breaking and his nose almost doing the same.

You crouched down, staring him dead in the face. Blood and saliva dribbled onto the floor.

"Are we clear, Wells?"

"As crystal."

You shook out your hand and got up, stepping over Harry's pained form on the floor. Barry was watching from the doorway.

"You know violence isn't the answer, right?" He mused, crossing his arms as he looked at you.

"Seems to be the only way one can get through to that prick though." You rubbed your hand absently. That punch hadn't been aligned right, and you had probably fractured something.

"You should uh. Get back to Cisco." Barry walked passed you, giving you a pat on the shoulder. You didn't have to respond, instead simply walking down to the workshop to check on your wonderful boyfriend. The theme of the original series floated down the hallway and you smiled. When the door opened, you felt a weight drop from your chest. Cisco had un-burrowed himself from the blanket cocoon and was eating his food happily. You sighed in relief, coming up to him and plopping happily onto the couch.

"Feeling better?" You plucked a twizzler from the package on his lap.

"Much better. Hey hey hey woah, what's up with your hand?" He grabbed your hand, making you wince in pain.

"Oh, it uh, was introduced to Harry's face." You mumbled, trying not to look at the bruises blossoming on your knuckles. Cisco's face went through a whole spectrum of emotions before settling on sadness. He kissed your knuckles as softly has he could before setting your hand down.

"You didn't have to punch him." He pulled you closer to him by the waist.

"Yeah I did. He made you go to the depression fort." You put your head on Cisco's shoulder.

"Thank you." Cisco kissed the top of your head. You got under the blanket with him and curled into his side.

"Always, babe. But please, next time, try not to shoot Barry. You freaked him out." You looked up at him. He smiled down at you, looking tired and still a bit puffy from crying, but way better.

"I will try my hardest."


End file.
